Back to the home page

babi pongteh /bah-bee pong-tay, ÈbAbi Èp�NteI/ n. [Mal. babi pig + pongteh (?)]  A Peranakan dish consisting of pork trotters stewed in a thick brown sauce.
2004 Nicholas Tse Today (Festive Special), 10 December, 18 Peranakan dishes include tahu sumbat (beancurd stuffed with shredded cucumber), udang lemak nanas (prawns with pineapple slices in coconut milk gravy) and babi pongteh (pig’s trotters in a brown sauce) to name a few.  [2006 William Gwee Thian Hock A Baba Malay Dictionary 31 babi pongteh stewed pork with bean paste]

bag of balls n. phr. [Eng., origin unkn.] mil. slang  See quot. 1978.  Compare Sai Kang.
1978 Leong Choon Cheong Youth in the Army 303 bag of balls. A dirty job handed over under pressure of rank.

bak /bahk, bAùk/ n. [Hk. 肉 băh flesh (Medhurst); Mand. ròu meat; flesh (Chi.–Eng. Dict.); compare Hk. 猪肉 te băh pork (Medhurst); Mand. zhūròu]  Meat; spec. pork.
[2006 William Gwee Thian Hock A Baba Malay Dictionary 32 bak [豬肉] pork; meat]

Comb.:

bak chang /chahng, tSAùN/ [Hk. 粽 chàng a kind of confectionery, made of millet, folded up with sharp corners, and used on the fifth day of the fifth moon; it is also called 角黍 kak sé [Mand. jiǎo corner + shǔ broomcorn millet (Pancium miliaceum) (Chi.–Eng. Dict.)], cornered millet (Medhurst); Mand. zòng]  A tetrahedral dumpling made of glutinous rice, pork, mushrooms, chestnuts, etc., wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves and traditionally eaten during the Dragon Boat Festival; a rice dumpling.
[1955 R.J. Wilkinson A Malay–English Dictionary, vol. 1, 184 kueh chang: (Ch. [Chinese] ke-tsang) rice wrapped in bamboo-leaf..]  2002 Wong Ah Yoke The Straits Times (Life!), 3 June, L2 The Dragon Boat Festival is coming up soon, which means it’s time for Chinese restaurants to peddle their bak chang (rice dumplings).  2005 Peh Shing Huei The Straits Times (from Straits Times Interactive), 13 October. Guangxi Oblong Dumplings [heading]. At 20cm long, this is not your ordinary bak chang. The rice dumpling is a one-course meal for villagers who have to spend a day in the fields and have no utensils for a full meal. It originated in Guangxi province in southern China. Made of glutinous rice, mushroom, marinated fatty pork and shrimps, the dumpling would sustain the worker for the day. ‘A lot of work goes into the preparation,’' said Mr Yong Ah Seng, vice-chairman of the Guangxi and Gaozhou Association, as it takes two days to marinate it. ‘Only five people in my clan know how to do it.’  2006 Vasanthan Govindasamy Today (from Todayonline.com), 24 October. [T]here was Ah Chong’s mother (I never really knew her name) who made the best Hokkien ba chang that I have ever tasted, during the dumpling festival. She always gave five huge pieces hanging from a raffia string, for she knew I liked ba chang. And I know it was tedious work, for Ah Chong’s mother used charcoal fuel for the cooking that took hours, and it was normally cooked along the corridors.

bak chor mee /bahk chor, bAk tS�ù/ n. [Hk. 脞 ch’hò small (Medhurst); Mand. cuǒ in small, broken bits (Chi.–Eng. Dict.) + Mee]  A Chinese dish consisting of noodles with minced pork.
2003 Teo Pau Lin The Sunday Times, 5 October, L38 What he cooks – bak chor mee (minced pork noodles) – is what he learnt himself.  2006 ‘Mr Brown’ (Lee Kin Mun) Today 36 I was the kind of guy who would order the $3 bowl of noodles if the hawker sold the basic bowl for $2, and after upsizing my bak chor mee, I would almost always order a side dish, like say, chai tow kuay.  2006 Thomas Kong The Straits Times (National Day Supplement), 9 August, 16 Bak chor mee or minced pork noodles.. My shiokest makan is bak chor mee. It’s the combination of pork lard, vinegar and noodles that makes it so special.  2006 June Cheong (quoting Tan Siang Yee) The Sunday Times (LifeStyle) (from Straits Times Interactive), 29 October. I also like the bak chor mee (minced meat noodles) stall in Crawford Lane.

bak kua /kuuah, g-; kUAù, g-/ [Hk. kua dry; Mand. 干 gān] Also bak kwa.  A type of Chinese food consisting of slices of barbequed glazed pork.
2001 Chen Jingwen The Sunday Times (Special), 14 January, P13 Mouth reeking of bak kwa.  2001 Philip Allen The Straits Times, 18 January, H1 Going to Chinatown to buy some.. barbequed pork or bak kwa for the Chinese New Year celebrations.  2005 Teo Pau Lin (quoting Robin Lee) The Sunday Times (LifeStyle) (from Straits Times Interactive), 9 October. I hear you love bak kwa (grilled sweet pork). / My family used to own one of the biggest pig farms in Singapore. We supplied pork to bak kwa shops, so they used to give us free samples. As far as I can remember, I’ve loved bak kwa ever since I can chew. I have a particular liking for anything chewy with a bit of crispiness, so I like my bak kwa a bit over-grilled.  [2006 William Gwee Thian Hock A Baba Malay Dictionary 32 bak kuaⁿ [肉乾] barbequed pork]

bak kut teh /kuut tay (te), kUt teI (tE)/ [Hk. 骨 kwùt a bone + 茶 tây tea (Medhurst); Mand. gǔ bone + chá a certain kind of drink or liquid food (Chi.–Eng. Dict.)]  A Chinese clear stew consisting of pork ribs cooked with herbs, garlic, soya sauce, etc., often garnished with pieces of Taupok.
2006 Frankie Chee The Sunday Times (LifeStyle), 30 July, L6 The bak kut teh (pork rib soup) stall there was a hot favourite.  [2006 William Gwee Thian Hock A Baba Malay Dictionary 32 bak kut [肉骨] pork rib]  2006 Teo Pau Lin The Sunday Times (LifeStyle), 13 August, L24 [L]ipsmacking dishes that are rarely found now – pig’s organ soup with pig’s blood and lungs, .. and Hokkien-style bak kut teh that came in a dark soup.  2006 Anthony Bourdain New York Times Magazine (from Travel.nytimes.com), 24 September. [B]ak kut teh, literally pork-rib tea, was a dish about which I was constantly nagged. .. Bak kut teh is essentially a heap of pork, usually ribs, cooked in broth. Said to have been created as food for Chinese laborers in early-20th-century Malaysia, it has become a beloved ritual for Chinese businessmen, a weekly or even daily combination of working lunch, social gathering and lengthy discussion of its many versions. .. [M]y new friend explained that Rong Chen serves a “white version” of bak kut – basic pork ribs and broth, flavored with pepper (as opposed to herbs) and whole cloves of garlic, the pork free of the darkening effects of soy. The herbal (darker, usually soy-infused) dish tends to be more tender, he said. After a few cups of tea, some salted vegetables and fried bread came the main event: huge, steaming bowls of meaty pork ribs in a translucent broth. Chili dipping sauce was served on the side. As we gnawed on bones, tearing off peppery strips and drinking spoonfuls of the cooking liquid, our waiter continued to replenish our broth.

bak kwa var. of Bak Kua.

bakwan kepiting /bahk-wahn kə-pee-ting, ÈbAkwAn k«ÈpiùtIN/ n. [Hk. 肉 băh flesh + 丸 wân anything around and small (Medhurst); Mand. ròu meat, flesh + wán ball, pellet (Chi.–Eng. Dict.); compare Jav. bak‘wan a corn-fritter-like food; in Jogjakarta style, made with shrimp added (Horne) + Mal. < Jav. kepiting crab (Horne)]  A Peranakan dish consisting of meatballs made of minced pork, prawn and crabmeat in a clear chicken soup with shredded bamboo shoots.
2005 Wong Ah Yoke The Sunday Times (from Straits Times Interactive), 7 August. [D]elicious meatballs in the bakwan kepiting soup..  [2006 William Gwee Thian Hock A Baba Malay Dictionary 32 bak wan [肉元] pork meatball  bak wan kepiting pork and crab meatball]

balek /bah-lek, ÈbAùlEk/ v. [Mal., go back, return]  Return to one’s place of residence, go home.

Phrases: balek kampung /kam-pong, ÈkAmp�N/ v. phr. [Mal. Kampung]  Go to one’s home or place of residence, return to one’s place of origin; transf. go home.
2000 Kelvin Tong The Straits Times (Life! This Weekend), 23 November, 9 Raffles balek kampung long time ago already.  [2006 William Gwee Thian Hock A Baba Malay Dictionary 33 balek kampong to go back home; back to where one belongs]

balls drop a. [Eng.]  Frightened, scared, shocked, terrified.  See also Balls Shrink.
1978 Leong Choon Cheong Youth in the Army 303 balls drop, balls shrink. Loss of nerve, particularly when confronted by a high-ranking, authoritarian figure or by a terrifying situation. .. ‘Balls’ is of course a vulgarism for testicles. .. The ‘balls’ obsession springs from anxiety about loss of masculinity or virility.  1985 Michael Chiang Army Daze 34 Balls drop.. It means loss of nerve; fear. E.g., ‘Want to apply for day off, see Encik’s face straight away balls drop.’ (Translated, I had intended to make an application for a day’s leave but lost my nerve when I caught sight of the Company Sergeant Major’s stern demeanour.)

balls shrink. a. [Eng.]  Balls Drop.

balukoo /bah-luu-kuu, bAùÈlUùkUù/ n. [poss. < Mal. buah duku: buah fruit + Duku (see quot. 2006 below) f. the similarity between a bruise or haematoma and the fruit; or < Penang Mal. duku rap with the knuckles (Winstedt); or < Kedah Mal. menduku rap with the back of the knuckles (Wilkinson); or < Mal. meluku rap the head (as when punishing a child)]  A swelling caused by blow; bruise, haematoma.

[2006 William Gwee Thian Hock A Baba Malay Dictionary 45 buah duku/luku a local fruit belonging to the Lansium domesticum species]

2000 Kelvin Tong The Straits Times (Life! This Weekend), 28 December, 8 100th balukoo but still standing.

banana n. [Eng. transl. of Hk. 莄蕉子 keng chëaou (or chëo) këⁿa: keng chëaou a plantain, a banana + këⁿa a child, a boy, a son (Medhurst), f. the fact that the banana has a yellow peel and white flesh inside; Mand. gěng (not in Chi.–Eng. Dict., Giles or Matthews) + jiāo any of several broadleaf plants + zǐ son, child (Chi.–Eng. Dict.)]  A person of the Chinese race who lives a Western lifestyle and who often does not or is unable to speak Mandarin or any Chinese dialect; a Westernized Chinese person.  See also Orang China Bukan China 2.  Compare Coconut.
2003 Colin Goh The Sunday Times, 12 October, L18 I’m a supporter of good English (if only to thumb a nose at atas Westerners and bananas).  2003 Siew Kum Hong Today, 3 November, 3 The resentment felt by those with a poor command of English towards the Westernised, English-educated ‘bananas’ who cannot speak or are not comfortable with Mandarin and dialects.  2004 Philip Geer The Straits Times, 12 April, H7 ‘Banana’ is a Singapore English word that effectively conveys the idea of a Chinese person who has adopted Western attitudes. The online Coxford Singlish Dictionary says that a ‘banana’ is ‘a “banana child” or keng chio kia in Hokkien, a Chinese person who takes on Western affectations’, that is, yellow on the outside and white on the inside.  2004 Garry Hubble The Straits Times (Life!), 5 November, 6 Low grade insults can also make a turnaround and become incorporated into the vernacular of the people it describes. An online Singlish dictionary lists ‘ching chong’ and ‘cheena’ as terms used by ‘banana’ Chinese in Singapore to refer to their less Westernised brethren.  2005 Sue-Ann Chia The Straits Times (Saturday), 12 February, S11 In fact, it isn’t the first time I’ve been labelled a banana, a monicker that has also been used to describe those who are Chinese (yellow on the outside) but more “ang moh pai” (Caucasian or white on the inside).

banana money, banana note n. [Eng.] hist.  Paper currency, so called because of an illustration of a banana tree on the ten-dollar note, issued in Singapore by the Japanese Military Administration during the Japanese Occupation of Singapore in World War II (1942–1945) which was invalidated after the war and thus became worthless.
2005 Krist Boo The Straits Times (from Straits Times Interactive), 28 July. Banana notes were the currency used during the Japanese Occupation between 1942 and 1945.  2005 Romen Bose The Straits Times (from Straits Times Interactive), 4 September. On Friday, Sept 7 [1945], the British Military Administration declared that apart from $1,000 and $10,000 notes, which had to be handed in and accounted for, all pre-war Malayan and Straits Settlements currency notes and coins would be legal tender. Overnight, the Japanese military’s ‘banana’ money became worthless. On Saturday, beef, which could be bought for 20 cents a kati (605g) or 150 Japanese dollars on the black market, went up to 1,000 Japanese dollars. On Sunday, when the full implication of the news had sunk in, no one would accept Japanese dollars. By Monday, Sept 10, every shop, food stall and market was closed. The British Military Administration reacted quickly to the crisis. The files reveal that the chief civil affairs officer assured reporters that large quantities of Straits dollar notes were available, that everyone would be paid salary advances and Allied servicemen were already spending their local dollars, so there would be plenty of legal currency in circulation soon. At the same time, the first free rations of rice, sugar and salt began to be distributed. .. The formal Japanese surrender in City Hall on Sept 12, 1945, was a grand affair as British Royal Marines lined the streets and crowds filled the Padang... To the ordinary people however, the City Hall ceremony, held little significance. With ‘banana’ money now worthless, people were worried about making a living and putting food on the table.

bandung /bahn-duung, ÈbAndUN/ n. [poss. < Ind. Bandung, the provincial capital of West Java in Indonesia]  A Malay or Indonesian milk drink flavoured with rose syrup.
2006 Eveline Gan Today, 31 July, 27 [O]ld-school beverages such as teh tarik, bandung and barley are served in traditional kopitiam mugs.

bang balls v. phr. [Eng. transl. of Hk. pong kan]  Pong Kan.
1978 Leong Choon Cheong Youth in the Army 303 bang balls. To feel frustrated, generally as a result of being unable to do what one wants to do (due, for example, to unnecessarily strict regulations or to obstruction by a superior officer).  1985 Michael Chiang Army Daze 34 Bang balls. To be frustrated.

bapok /bah-poh(k), Èbapo(k)/ n. [Mal.] derog.  An effeminate male.  See also Ah Kua, Muffadet.

barang-barang /bah-rahng, ÈbAùrAùN/ n. [Mal., things, objects, goods, articles, commodities] Also barang sing.  1 One’s personal belongings, esp. a soldier’s kit.  2 Articles or things collectively, impedimenta, paraphernalia.
1 1987 Toh Paik Choo On the Buses 70 Please remove all your barang-barang from the empty space next to you.  1990 Mickey Chiang Fighting Fit: The Singapore Armed Forces 114 Barely has ABC time to store his barang-barang, his belongings, in the cupboard, then he is ordered to change into PT kit and fall in, in double quick time.  1994 C.S. Chong NS: An Air-Level Story 76 Stood outside with our barang-barang and looked on in strange fascination.  2 1994 C.S. Chong NS: An Air-Level Story 77 Give them their bedding and all that barang-barang.  135 barang barang. Paraphernalia.

basha /bah-shah, ÈbASA/ n. [Eng., a hut made of bamboo with a thatched roof < Assamese বাসা bāsā a temporary residence, a hut; বাসর bāsara abode (Chan. Abhid.); বাসা bāsā a temporary residence, a hut, a lodging; বাসর্ bāsar abode; temporary residence (Barua); বাস bāsa a habitation, a dwelling (Bronson); poss. < Assamese বাস্ bās the act of residing; abode (Barua)] mil.  A basic tent created using a waterproof sheet hung at at a slant or over a cord.

basket /bahs-kayt, ÈbAùskeIt/ int. [poss. corruption of Eng. bastard: see quots. 1991, 1995]  An exclamation expr. anger, frustration, etc.
1991 Valerie Tan The Straits Times (Section 3), 9 August, 19 basket – bastardised version of bastard.  1994 C.S. Chong NS: An Air-Level Story 36 Basket! I’m short, so my fault, is it?  1995 Tan Kim Hock The Straits Times, 3 May, 30 Remember how schoolchildren said “basket” for “bastard” to avoid being scolded by teachers? It’s a play on the sound.  2000 Kelvin Tong The Straits Times (Life! This Weekend), 23 November, 9 As if Singapore got a lot of roads. Basket, drive 10 m, kenna hump already. 2000 Kelvin Tong The Straits Times (Life! This Weekend), 28 December, 8 Basket! I told you he is a con man!  2005 Teo Pau Lin (quoting Sam Leong) The Sunday Times (LifeStyle), 18 December, L28 One time, I woke up one morning and my elder son was making tempura prawns with his friends. He said he was using a recipe he found on the Internet. I thought, “Basket, your father is a chef and you use an Internet recipe?” I didn’t know whether to laugh or be angry.

batang /bah-tahng, ÈbAtAN/ n. [Mal. (ikan) tenggiri batang: ikan fish + tenggiri Spanish mackerel, Scomberomorus (Cybium) species (Wilkinson) + batang stem, tree trunk; handle, shaft; course of a stream; the long and cylindrical part of anything; a numerical coefficient for long cylindrical objects such as trees, logs, spars, spears, cigars, fingers, torches, pens, pencils, blowpipes, etc. (Wilkinson), prob. f. its appearance]  In full, (ikan) tenggiri batang: the narrow-barred Spanish mackerel (Scomberomorus commersoni), a long edible fish with silvery, banded skin.
[1955 R.J. Wilkinson A Malay–English Dictionary, vol. 2, 1201 těnggiri. Ikan těnggiri: Spanish mackerel, Scomberomorus (Cybium) spp.; = (Min. [Minangkabau]) tanggiri. Varieties: t. batang.. Also těngiri.  1963 Richard Winstedt An Unabridged Malay–English Dictionary 363 těnggiri, large mackerels, Cybium spp., ikan t. batang C. commerconii..]  2003 Tan Yang Today 25–26 October, 24 Hay cho with deep-fried bean curd.. is the restaurant’s pièce de résistance. ..  True to tradition, the stuffing of prawns, Batang fish and eel is wrapped in pig’s membrane (not bean curd skin).  2006 Wong Ah Yoke The Sunday Times (LifeStyle) (from Straits Times Interactive), 11 June. My steaming bowl of soup, which came with extremely fresh, tender slices of batang fish (spanish mackerel), was one of the best I’ve tasted.

bayam /bı-yum, ÈbÃIjÃm/ n. [Mal.]  Amaranthus tricolor or Amaranthus gangeticus, an upright, much-branched annual plant with green or red-green leaves which is eaten as a vegetable; Chinese spinach.
¶ Known in Cant. as 苋菜 ín ts‘oi edible species of Artemisia, Chenopodium and Spinacia (Eitel), in Hk. as hēng ch’haè the Amaranthus oleraceus L. (hēng a culinary vegetable + ch’haè) (Medhurst); and in Mand. as xiàncài three-coloured amaranth (Amaranthus tricolor): xiàn amaranth (Chi.–Eng. Dict.) (see quot. 1991).
[1955 R.J. Wilkinson A Malay–English Dictionary, vol. 1, 94 bayam. Amaranth; spinach, Pant. Mal. [Pantoen Melajoe (Batavia: Balai Poestaka)] 42. Gen. for Amaranthus spp. and Celosia spp.; used by Malays for spinach (sayur b. [bayam], esp. A. oleraceus) and chicken-food (Pet. Ayam [Pemimpin Peternak Ajam (Batavia: Kolff, 1919)] 54).]  1991 Kok Poh Tin et. al. A Guide to Common Vegetables 10 Amaranthus tricolor L. (Amaranthaceae) (A. gangeticus) Chinese spinach; .. bayam, .. An upright, much branched annual with a thin membrane covering the stem. Leaves with long petioles vary in shape, size and colour. Herklots (1972) described seven cultivars, of which three are found locally. They are the lanceolate green leaves, rounded green leaves and rounded leaves red in the centre otherwise green. Lee Chew Kang (1979) reported that these varieties interbreed freely so that when a green variety and a red variety are grown close together in the same garden, the leaves of the offspring may have various shades of red. .. A very ancient pot herb in South East Asia, many of the more than fifty species in both tropical and temperate regions are eaten as greens. It is probably the best of all tropical spinaches both in flavour and good value. It contains substantial amounts of vitamins A, B, C and double the amount of iron found in spinaches.

bayee var. of Bhai.

bedek /bay-dayk, ÈbeIdeIk|/ v. [Jav. bedèk-bedèkan ask riddles, play guessing games; bedèk, bedèkan riddle, guessing game (Horne)]  Bluff, fool, pretend.
2000 Kelvin Tong The Straits Times (Life! This Weekend), 28 December, 8 Want to bedeh also don’t need so obvious.  [2006 William Gwee Thian Hock A Baba Malay Dictionary 37 bedek ([Mal.] bedek) to tell a fib]

beef ball n. [Eng., transl. of Mand. 牛肉圆 níuròu yuán: níuròu beef (níu ox + ròu meat, flesh) + yuán ball; or formed by analogy with Fishball]  A Chinese food item consisting of minced beef shaped into a ball and boiled till firm, often eaten in soup, served with noodles, etc.  Compare Fishball.
2005 Teo Pau Lin “Hakka beef balls bounce back” The Sunday Times (LifeStyle) (from Straits Times Interactive), 9 October. Lovers of beef noodles might initially find this version a let-down. Instead of a bowl of rich, dark brown soup, this stall’s version is clear, watery and bland. But it hasn’t stopped hordes of regulars from lapping it up.. . The point, you see, is not the soup. It’s the beef balls. Done Hakka-style, they are almost as big as ping pong balls, juicy and boast a rich, beefy flavour. Owner Y. C. Chin, 35, started selling them 10 years ago when he realised that Hakka-style beef noodles had died out in Singapore. ‘They were around in the 1950s but slowly, nobody made them anymore,’ he says. A decade ago, while on holiday in Dapu, a Hakka region in China’s Guangdong province, he saw the dish whipped up at every street corner and decided to re-introduce it here. He invited a Dapu beef ball maker to Singapore who, over a month, taught him how to select the beef, then cut, grind and cook it into beef balls. His business has since grown into a successful four-outlet chain. He still painstakingly makes by hand all the beef balls that are distributed to the outlets every day. Made with lean thigh meat, the beef balls have to be ground at around 8pm because cooler temperatures ensure a better texture, he says. But the most important factor is the quality of the meat, he adds. .. Customers can have the beef balls with super-smooth beef slices – a texture achieved by coating them with tapioca flour – and either beehoon or kway teow noodles. A bowl is priced from $3. While the bald-tasting soup is true to the Hakka style, your tastebuds will be more than fired up with its fabulous chilli sauce, made with chilli padi, garlic and rice wine.

beef rendang /rən-dahng, Èr«ndAN/ n. [Eng. beef + Rendang]  A Malay dish consisting of beef cooked in a Rendang style.
2006 Eveline Gan Weekend Today, 22–23 July, 23 The first dish we tried was the beef rendang ($12). Enormous chunks of tender beef topped with dessicated spiced coconut melted in our mouths..

beehoon /bee-hoon, biùÈhUn/ n. [Hk. 米 bé rice + 粉 hwún rice flour, any kind of powder (Medhurst); Mand. mǐfěn ground rice, rice flour; rice-flour noodles: mǐ rice + fěn noodles or vermicelli made from bean or sweet potato starch (Chi.–Eng. Dict.)]  Also bee hoon, meehoon.  1 Rice vermicelli.  2 Usu. with specifying word: a dish made using rice vermicelli.
1 2006 Wong Ah Yoke The Sunday Times (LifeStyle) (from Straits Times Interactive), 9 July. [T]here is kway teow, beehoon, yellow noodles as well as a choice of white rice and wild rice.  2 2003 Elisabeth Gwee The Sunday Times (LifeStyle), 19 October, L14 Laksa, mee rebus, nasi lemak or vegetarian bee hoon.  2006 Muhammad Zamri Sukri Straits Times Interactive, 1 July. My wife and I visited China Square Central Banquet for our lunch. She ordered sliced fish bee hoon from the noodles stall.

Comb.: beehoon pattaya /pah-tə-yah, ÈpAùt«jAù/ n. [< Pattaya a town in Thailand]  Fried beehoon wrapped in an egg omelette.
2002 Michelle Ho & Ruby Pan The Straits Times (Life! This Weekend), 12 April, L27 Items to check out here include the.. bee hoon or nasi goreng pattaya (egg-wrapped fried bee hoon or rice).

beh keng /bay keng, beI kEN/ n. [Hk. 马 báy a horse + 经(书 keng (se) books and classics (Medhurst); Mand. mǎ horse + jīng scripture, canon, classics (Chi.–Eng. Dict.)]  A horse-racing manual.
2004 Karl Ho The Sunday Times (LifeStyle), 13 June, L6 Beh keng. Hokkien phrase literally translated as ‘horse bible’. Refers to horseracing manuals that are sold off newspaper stands. In the context of football, a beh keng generally refers to The New Paper, which has in-depth analyses of football matches and hotline numbers for soccer tips. Usage: ‘Oi, stop bringing the beh keng into the toilet when you do your business. How I read after that?’

belacan /b(ə)-lah-chahn, b(«)ÈlAùtSAùn/ n. [Mal.] Formerly belachan.  A Malay food item consisting of a paste of prawns and small fish, used in cooking and as a relish for curry.  Compare Sambal.
1839 Thomas John Newbold Political and Statistical Account of the British Settlements in the Straits of Malacca, vol. 2, ch. 12, 178 The ordinary food of Malays.. is rice, and in times of scarcity, sago seasoned with a little salt fish, Blachang, the caviar of the East, made with acid fruits, &c., into a variety of condiments termed Sambals.  1894 N.B. Dennys A Descriptive Dictionary of British Malaya 13–14 Balachong.– This is the name of a condiment made of prawns, sardines, and other small fish, pounded and pickled. The proper Malay word is bâlachan. This article is of universal use as a condiment, and is one of the articles of native consumption throughout both the Malay and Philippine Archipelago. It is not confined as a condiment to the Asiatic islanders, but is also largely used by the Burmese, the Siamese, and Cochin-Chinese. It is, indeed, in a great measure, essentially the same article known to the Greeks and Romans under the name of garum, the produce of a Mediterranean fish.  234 The principal ingredient in a sambal is blachan, which is a condiment prepared from shrimps and small fish..  [1955 R.J. Wilkinson A Malay–English Dictionary, vol. 1, 102 bělachan. Shrimp-paste, Jay. Pati [Hikayat Putera Jaya Pati, manuscript, Cambridge], Kit. Muj. [Kitāb Mujarrabāt] 65; = (Java) těrasi, (Min. [Minangkabau] balachan. Made of small shrimps (Mysis spp.) salted, sun-dried and allowed to ferment; often pounded or trodden down as in wine-making. Cheap substitutes are made (in the same way) from the small fry of Penaeus spp. or small fish fry.  1963 Richard Winstedt An Unabridged Malay–English Dictionary 38 bělachan, .. a paste of prawns or fish-fry  2006 William Gwee Thian Hock A Baba Malay Dictionary 37 belachan ([Mal.] belacan) shrimp-paste]  2006 Teo Pau Lin (quoting Benjamin Seck) The Sunday Times (LifeStyle), 31 December, L28 I also have top quality belachan from Penang. It’s much better than Malacca belachan because it’s made with good quality shrimps and is not too salty.

belanja /b(ə)-lahn-jah, b(«)ÈlAùndZAù/ v. [Mal., disbursement, expenditure, outlay; euphemism for a gift (Wilkinson; Winstedt notes that the word is of Dravidian origin); belanjakan to expend; money for expenses; compare Ind. belandja expenses, expenditures; to shop, go shopping; to buy, purchase; membelandjai to finance, defray the cost (Echols & Shadily, Ind.–Eng.)]  Give a treat to (esp. buy a meal for), spend money on.
[1995 Joan Margaret Marbeck Ungua Adanza 183 blanjah.. to treat]  2003 Today, 21 January, 20 If he occasionally belanja you a popiah when you’re hungry and broke.  2004 Colin Goh The Sunday Times (LifeStyle), 12 December, L14 I.. was so confident of doing badly for my O-level Chinese exams that I made a bet with some friends: If I got anything higher than a C6, I would blanja (treat) them to an all-night togo session.  [2006 William Gwee Thian Hock A Baba Malay Dictionary 38 belanja ([Mal.] belanja) spending; expenditure; a treat]

beng, Beng var. of Ah Beng.

bengkok /beng-koh(k), bENÈko(k)/ a. [Mal., bent, crooked (of lines, conduct) (Winstedt)]  Bent, crooked.

BGR n. [Eng. abbrev. of b(oy-g(irl r(elationship]  A relationship between a male and female teenager: usu. used in the context of counselling or psychology in relation to difficulties that arise in such a relationship.

[2006 Audrey Ong The Straits Times (from Straits Times Interactive), 27 April. The game of boy-girl relationships [title]]

bhai /bı-yee, bÃIÈjiù/ n. [Punj. ਭਾਈ bháí brother, cousin, kinsman, friend; the term is also applied to every Sikh (Panj. Dict.); Hind. भाई bhāī brother; kinsman, cousin; fellow-member of a group (as a class or community); friend; friend (familiar term of address; may be applied to person of either sex) < Hind. भरातृ- bhrāt- brother (McGregor) < Skt. भरातृ bhrātṛi a brother, uterine brother, own brother; an intimate friend or relation, a cousin or near relative in general, an intimate friend (sometimes used as a term of friendly address); poss. < the Skt. root भृ bhṛi (orig. meaning ‘a supporter’) to bear, carry, to support, maintain, keep, sustain, nourish, foster, cherish, protect, take care of (Monier-Williams); Hind. भई bhaī (diminutive, esp. vocative) friend, poss. < Hind. भिगन bhagin- (McGregor), poss. < Skt. भिगनी bhaginī a sister (‘the happy or fortunate one’); a woman in general < Skt. भिगन् bhagin prosperous, happy, fortunate; grand, splendid (Monier-Williams); poss. through Mal. bai: see quots. 1955, 1963 below]

[1955 R.J. Wilkinson A Malay–English Dictionary, vol. 1, 66 bai.. [Hind. bhai] Brother as a form of familiar address to a native of Northern India; cf. tambi (for Southern India).  1963 Richard Winstedt An Unabridged Malay–English Dictionary 27 bai, .. H[indi], brother (a familiar form of address to Bengalis, Punjabis and Pathans.]

Also bayee.  A Sikh person, esp. a Sikh man.
¶ The word is regarded by some as derog.
2004 Ong Soh Chin The Straits Times (Life!), 30 October, 4 We should aim for a day when everyone knows how the term ‘bhai’ originated.  2005 Colin Chee The Electric New Paper, 12 July. We were comfortable calling each other names. Our Punjabi friends became ‘Ba-ees’. Our Indian pals were ‘Mamaks’, our Malay friends were ‘Oi-Ahmad’, and our Eurasian friends were ‘Gragos’. And they would all call us ‘Chinks’ or ‘Paleface’.  [2006 William Gwee Thian Hock A Baba Malay Dictionary 32 Bai ([Mal.] bai) familiar address to a Punjabi and Bengali]

†Bible n. [Eng.] mil. slang  Directives and orders of the Ministry of Defence collectively.
1978 Leong Choon Cheong Youth in the Army 304 Bible. A reverent, but more likely irreverent, reference to MINDEF directives and orders.

bishop’s nose n. [Eng., var. of parson’s nose, prob. f. its appearance]  The fatty extremity of the rump of a chicken or other fowl, esp. when prepared as a dish; parson’s nose.

bittergourd n. [Eng. transl. of Mand. 苦瓜 kǔguā (kǔ bitter + guā melon, gourd, etc.) or cognates in other Chi. dialects; it is not the same plant as the Eng. bitter gourd, also known as the bitter-apple or colocynth (Citrullus colocynthis)]  The bitter fruit of a climbing annual plant, Momordica charantia, which is shaped like a cucumber and has irregular ridges along its length.
¶ Known in Cant. as fú kwá (the bitter gourd (Momordica charantia, L.): fú to be bitter + kwá a general term for Cucurbitaceæ as gourds, melons, cucumbers, brinjal, etc. (Eitel)) and in Hk. as k’hoé kwa a bitter cucumber (k’hoé bitter, acrid + kwa a melon (Medhurst)) (see quot. 1991).
1991 Kok Poh Tin et. al. A Guide to Common Vegetables 64–65 Momordica charantia L. (Cucurbitaceae) Bittergourd.. A slender, climbing annual with long stalked leaves, deeply cordate at the base and palmately 5 to 9 lobed. Solitary male and female flowers are borne in leaf axils. The fruit is a warty-looking gourd, usually oblong and resembling the ordinary cucumber in shape. Actually, there are 8 to 10 longitudinal ridges, between which are many smooth, irregular outgrowths. The young fruit is emerald green turning to orange-yellow when ripe. The fruit is never hard but splits at maturity into three irregular valves that curl backwards and release numerous brown or white seeds enclosed in scarlet arils. The generic name “Momordica” comes from the Latin meaning “to bite”, referring to the jagged edges of the seed which appears as if it has been bitten. .. Small and immature bittergourd can be parboiled in salted water or rubbed with some salt to remove part of the bitterness. On account of its bitter taste, it is relished by the Chinese as a tonic vegetable.  2006 Sukri Kadola Today (from Todayonline.com), 21 September. My dad and I used to share a warm packet of nasi padang over our favourite wildlife documentary. He indulged in mother’s recipe of stir-fried lady’s fingers or bitter gourd infused with the rich taste of sliced mackerel in assam sauce.  2006 Teo Pau Lin (quoting Benjamin Seck) The Sunday Times (LifeStyle), 31 December, L28 I like to go to two kopitiams in Keong Saik Road. Tong Ah on the corner has this fish fried with bittergourd and black bean sauce which is very shiok.  2007 Thng Lay Teen The Sunday Times (LifeStyle), 2 September, L27 Bittergourd and [pork] ribs cooked with fermented black beans is normally eaten with rice.

black bean sauce n. [Eng.; it is not the same as black bean a bean of the genus Phaseolus, having black seeds (OED)]  A sauce used in Chinese cooking made from soya beans (Glycine maximus) that have been salted and fermented, which causes them to soften and turn black.
¶ Known in Mand. as 豆豉 dòuchǐ fermented soya beans, salted or otherwise (Chi.–Eng. Dict.).
2006 Wong Ah Yoke The Sunday Times (LifeStyle) (from Straits Times Interactive), 9 July. [S]eafood in black bean sauce..  2006 Teo Pau Lin (quoting Benjamin Seck) The Sunday Times (LifeStyle), 31 December, L28 I like to go to two kopitiams in Keong Saik Road. Tong Ah on the corner has this fish fried with bittergourd and black bean sauce which is very shiok.

black fungus n. [Eng., descriptive]  Auricularia polytricha (also Hirneola polytricha), a dark brown or black frilly jelly fungus often used in Chinese dishes and soups; cloud ear fungus, Jew’s ear, tree ear, wood ear.  Compare White Fungus.
¶ Known in Mand. as (黑)木耳  (hēi) mùěr: hēi black; dark + mù tree; timber, wood + ěr ear; any ear-like thing; 毛木耳 máo mùěr: hair, feather, down; or 云耳 yún’ěr: yún cloud (Chi.–Eng. Dict.).
2006 Amy Van Today, 14 August, 35 [A] hot and sour broth brimming with bean curd, spring onion and black fungus.  2006 Teo Pau Lin (quoting Corwin Leong) The Sunday Times (LifeStyle) (from Straits Times Interactive), 10 September. [T]here’s one dish my wife does that I can’t beat – Kuala Lumpur-style ban mian (thick, flat noodles). She makes the soup with ikan bilis (anchovies) and soya beans. Then, she adds toppings like black fungus with oyster sauce, minced pork, shallots, chilli, sweet potato leaves and an egg.  2007 Tessa Boase The Daily Telegraph (Weekend), 6 January, W16 [R]illette of pork with black fungus and apricot chutney (“black fungus” being the more appetising name for Jew’s ear)..

blank a. [Eng.]  Blur.
1978 Leong Choon Cheong Youth in the Army 304 blank. When a person is ‘blank’, he is said to be in the dark about what is going on. Another slang with a similar meaning is ‘blur’.  1985 Michael Chiang Army Daze 35 Blank. Devoid of intelligence (see also ‘blur’).

blank file n. [Eng., f. the term for a gap in a parade rank caused by a missing soldier < file n. mil. number of men constituting the depth from front to rear of a formation in line, etc.] mil. slang  1 A gap resulting from a missing tooth.  2 joc.  A nickname for a soldier with a missing tooth or teeth.
1 1978 Leong Choon Cheong Youth in the Army 304 blank file. Technically it refers to blank spaces at parade ranks. As slang it refers to the gaps left by extracted teeth.  1985 Michael Chiang Army Daze 35 Blank file.. refers to the missing tooth or teeth of a particular soldier.  2 1985 Michael Chiang Army Daze 35 One Blank File can be used as a name for the guy with the missing front tooth.

blanket party n. & v. [Eng., poss. < U.S. army slang: blanket + party detachment of troops selected for a particular service or duty]  A n. mil. slang  A rough, irregular form of punishment or horse-play in which a person is covered with a blanket (often by surprise) and pummelled through it by others.  B v. 1 Subject a person to a blanket party.  2 Sabotage, act maliciously against.
A 1991 Linda Reinberg In the Field: The Language of the Vietnam War 24 blanket party slang for hazing or punishment by shipmates, who wrapped up their victim in a blanket so that he could not identify them.  B 1 2005 Hong Xinyi The Sunday Times (from Straits Times Interactive), 19 June. Blanket party. Army use: Wrapping someone who is unanimously disliked in blankets and then raining blows on him. It’s a group thing.  2 2005 Hong Xinyi The Sunday Times (from Straits Times Interactive), 19 June. Blanket party. .. Civilian use: Sabotaging someone whom everyone can’t stand. Example: That new classmate of ours is so obnoxious, we should blanket party him.

blue ginger n. [Eng. transl. of Cant. 蓝姜 lám keúng (lám blue + keúng ginger, the rhizomes of Alpinia galanga, Willd.; the name is also applied to other plants of a similar kind (Eitel)), Hk. lâm këo^ng (lâm blue + këo^ng ginger  (Medhurst)) or Mand. lánjiāng (lán blue + jiāng ginger)]  A particularly pungent variety of ginger; galangal, galingale; or, more specifically, Lengkuas.
2006 Teo Pau Lin (quoting Najip Ali) The Sunday Times (LifeStyle), 23 July, L28 Best way to cook them is to fry them with blue ginger and onion.  2006 Haikal Johari The Straits Times (National Day Supplement), 9 August, 17 My mother uses the right proportion of spices in the [laksa] gravy. It is not too rich and you can taste the lemongrass and blue ginger in it. There’s also the wonderful aftertaste from the dried shrimps she uses.

†Blue Thunder n. [< title of a 1983 film directed by John Badham (1939– ) and a 1984 television series created by Dan O’Bannon (1946– ) and Don Jakoby featuring an advanced prototype police helicopter and its crew]  Chinese Helicopter.
1985 Michael Chiang Army Daze 42 Nowadays, extremely inarticulate soldiers are called Blue Thunder (named after the film and TV series about a super advanced US chopper).

blur /blə; bl«, -«ù/ a. [< Eng. blurred] Also blur-blur.  1 Ignorant, stupid, slow to catch on.  2 Confused, muddle-headed.
1 1978 Leong Choon Cheong Youth in the Army 165 Being ‘blur’, he did not know exactly what he was puffing but was told it was just ordinary tobacco.  1985 Michael Chiang Army Daze 36 Blur. Daft, dense, dumb. Also, blur like sotong.  1994 C.S. Chong NS: An Air-Level Story 27 He queried me as to the sudden reason for my ‘blurness’.  2000 Dennis Wee with Sylvia Fong Making Luck with Your Hands 77 That blur-blur kid being pushed around.  2000 Cindy Lim The Straits Times, 1 April, 54 He kept horning at me but I was so blur.  2000 Magdalene Lum (quoting Kumar) The Straits Times (Life!), 29 August, 15 But I’ve met a lot of blur-blur sales-people there.  2001 Magdalene Lum (quoting Mark Lee) The Straits Times (Life!), 9 January, L8 I am really blur about geography and used to fail the subject in school. .. I’m so blur, I didn’t know they existed.  2003 Marc Lim & Peh Shing Huei (quoting Mah Bow Tan) The Straits Times, 22 November, A37 We were all blur when we started in 1996. We didn’t know how to run a professional club.  2006 The Sunday Times, 20 August, 42 The way we use the word “blur” may also confuse a non-Singaporean. .. [I]t is most commonly used by Singaporeans as an adjective to describe people who never seem to know what’s going on! An example would be the question: “Eh, why are you so blur?”  2 2006 Wong Kim Hoh (quoting Ronni Pinsler) The Sunday Times (LifeStyle) (from Straits Times Interactive), 28 May. I was very blur in the day but came alive at night..

Comb.:

act blur v. phr.  [Eng.]  Pretend to be ignorant, feign ignorance.
2004 Colin Goh The Sunday Times (LifeStyle), 3 October, L16 Alamak, better act blur.

blur king n. phr. [Eng.]  A person who is frequently confused or slow to catch on.  See King.
1985 Michael Chiang Army Daze 36 Blur king. One who is the epitome of blur-ness.

Phrase: blur like sotong /so-tong, Ès�t�N/ [Mal. sotong cuttlefish, squid]  Blur.
1985 Michael Chiang Army Daze 36 [see quot. under Blur.]  1991 Valerie Tan The Straits Times (Section 3), 9 August, 19 blur like sotong – someone totally in the dark as to what goes on. Sotong is Malay for squids.  2003 Neil Humphreys Weekend Today, 13–14 December, 6 ‘Don’t be blur like sotong.’ Five minutes later, my friend was reading an information panel about molluscs when he shouted: ‘Oi, that little bastard just called me a squid!’  [2006 Kelvin Wong (quoting Brian Gothong Tan) The Sunday Times (LifeStyle) (from Straits Times Interactive), 26 November. I used to be called Sotong when I was in school because of my name and my ‘blur’ ways.]

bo /boh, bəʊ/ a. [Hk. 无 bô no, not at all (Medhurst); Mand. wú not have, there is not, without (Chi.–Eng. Dict.)] Also boh.  Not; not have, there is not, without.  Freq. used in the following combinations.

Comb.:

bo chap /chahp, tSAùp/ a. [Hk. (?) ([the Chinese character cannot be displayed due to software limitations; it consists of a 人 radical on the left and 秋])睬 (ch’hew) ch’haé to hold in estimation (Medhurst); Mand. căi pay attention to, take notice of (Chi.–Eng. Dict.)] Also bochap, bo-chap, boh chap.  Indifferent, not bothered, not caring.  Compare Switch Off B2.
1991 Tan Ooi Boon The Straits Times, 15 April, 17 I guess many people will just act bo chap (don’t care).  Nobody wants to confront a criminal and get into trouble.  1994 C.S. Chong NS: An Air-Level Story 127 People simply bo chap their looks in what was, after all, an all-male working domain.  135 bo chap. Simply don’t care.  2000 Clarissa Oon (quoting Jeffrey Tan) The Straits Times (Life!), 23 September, 5 When you ask for feedback, there is a certain bo-chap-ness (apathy).  2000 Jessica Tan The Straits Times (Life!), 29 December, L8 Desperately in need of a makeover, these two not-so-gorgeous but talented damsels definitely bag the most bochap (can’t be bothered, in Hokkien) look prize.  2003 The Straits Times, 17 October, H6 [A] recent Gallup poll.. found that many workers here have a bo chap (don’t care) attitude towards work.  2004 Dharmendra Yadav (quoting Goh Chok Tong) Today, 19 May, 3 In March, Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong reflected about the ‘bo-chap’ (can’t be bothered) attitude of young Singaporeans.  2005 Sue-Ann Chia The Straits Times, 11 March, H9 Companies that are “boh chap” about safety face stiffer penalties.  2006 Elgin Teo (quoting He Shuwei) The Sunday Times, 30 July, 10–11 ‘Bochap’? Not us, say teens [title].. [A]re Singaporean youths really so “bochap” (indifferent in Hokkien)? .. “We are not ‘bochap’. We are aware of issues concerning Singapore’s progress; it’s just that there’s nothing we can actually do at this stage,” opines Shuwei.

bo cheng hu /cheng hoo, tS«N huù/ a. phr. [Hk. 政府 chèng hoó to regulate, to rectify, to govern (Medhurst); Mand. zhèngfŭ government: zhèng politics, political affairs + fŭ seat of government, government office (Chi.–Eng. Dict.)] A A situation where one’s superiors are absent and one can take things easy. B A state of anarchy or lawlessness.  Also transl. into Eng. as No Government.
B 2002 Lee Hsien Loong (Deputy Prime Minister) Parliamentary Debates: Official Report, 4 April, vol. 74, cols. 416–417. If somebody has a traffic offence, he will come to you and say, “Please, can you waive the demerit points?” If we waive all the demerit points, we would be in a state of anarchy, “bo cheng hu”.  2002 Sonny Yap (quoting Lee Hsien Loong) The Straits Times, 4 May, H10 When Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong spoke on the motion of thanks for the President’s Address recently, he invoked two phrases which pricked up my ears. .. ‘If we waive all the demerit points, we would be in a state of anarchy bo cheng hu.’ .. [B]o cheng hu mean[s].. ‘no government’ in Hokkien.

bo hew /heew, hiùuù/ [Hk. (?) 咻 hew to bother, to dun (Medhurst); Mand. (?) xīu (literary language) make a din (Chi.–Eng. Dict.); to shout, to make a hubbub; a cry, a groan (Giles)] Also bo hiu.   Bo chap.
1978 Leong Choon Cheong Youth in the Army 308 hiu. Hiu means interest, concern, care: Hokkien. If a solider has no hiu (boh hiu), then he is said to have become uninterested, unconcerned and uncaring. You find this state of mind in a soldier whose ROD is around the corner, and in an unpromoted officer who thinks he ought to have been promoted umpteen years ago. 1985 Michael Chiang